Raven is a constellation of the southern hemisphere of the sky. It occupies a fairly small area and is significantly inferior in brightness to some of its neighbors. The stars that make up this heavenly pattern nonetheless attract the attention of specialists. In addition, a pair of interacting galaxies is located here, telling scientists a lot about the evolution of such structures.
Position in the sky
The Raven constellation is easiest to find by first determining the location of its bright neighbor, Virgo. To the south-west of it is a quadrangle of irregular shape formed by the most visible luminaries of this heavenly pattern.
The best time to observe the constellation is from March to April. Since Raven belongs to the southern heavenly figures, it does not rise high above the horizon in our country. The constellation is visible in the middle and southern parts of Russia.
Legendary
Raven is a constellation found on the pages of Ptolemy's Almagest, one of the first astronomical catalogs (II century AD). All heavenly drawings included in it are called the oldest.
Ravens are associated with many legends in the mythology of various nations. This bird has always been associated with magic and witchcraft. The ancient Greeks associated the appearance of the constellation in the sky with the solar god Apollo. According to legend, Raven was his assistant, a beautiful bird with white plumage, who could speak.
According to one version, he was supposed to bring news to God about how his wife Coronida and son Asclepius live while Apollo is busy with affairs on Olympus. One day, Raven spoke about the carelessness of a girl who prefers to communicate with her friends, rather than follow the child. Angry Apollo returned home and pierced his wife with an arrow. However, it turned out that the bird misinterpreted what was seen, and Coronida was a wonderful mother. The grieved Apollo cursed the messenger: he and all his descendants were forever covered with black feathers and were speechless. As a reminder to future generations of the dangers of rash acts and lies, God placed the constellation Raven in the sky.
The luminaries of heavenly drawing
In Raven, under good conditions, up to thirty stars can be distinguished without the aid of a telescope or binoculars. The brightness of only four of them exceeds 4 magnitude. These are Hyenach, Algorab, Kraz and Minkar. They form a quadrangle characteristic of the heavenly pattern.
The brightest star of the Raven is the gamma, Hyena. It has a brightness of 2.6m, located at a distance of 124 light years from us. Hyenach is a visual double star.
Beta Crow, Kraz, according to scientists, is a yellow giant. However, in this state, he will not stay long. In the center of Kraz, the formation of a helium core is nearing completion: in the near future, in the scale of space, it will turn into a red giant and become five times brighter. Having existed relatively shortly in this guise, Kraz will become a white dwarf.
Main attraction
However, Raven is a constellation, famous primarily not for its luminaries. On its territory there are two galaxies - NGC 4038 and NGC 4039 - experiencing a collision. For their characteristic shape they are called "Antennas." This is the most famous object adorning the constellation Raven. A photo of him was repeatedly transmitted to the Earth by the Hubble telescope.
Initially, both galaxies were spiral formations similar to the Milky Way. They were located very close to each other, which predetermined their future. For a long time they came closer and several million years ago their interaction began. The first result of the collision was the release of a huge number of stars beyond the boundaries of galaxies. The exiled luminaries formed “tails” characteristic of the object. Almost at the same time, new suns were born due to the collision of interstellar gas. Their glow colored part of the interacting galaxies in red. Many recently formed stars during the collision managed to explode supernovae.
Terrible disaster
It should be noted that the described events for a hypothetical observer inside one of the galaxies could proceed quite harmlessly. This is due to the sparse structure of such objects. In the process of interaction, due to the huge distances between the luminaries, there is no collision of stars. However, this event cannot be called safe either, since it provoked an increase in the number of powerful explosions, and in the future, probably, the galactic nuclei will merge and form a massive black hole.
Thanks to such a famous object as "Antennas", the question "is there a constellation of Ravens" does not even arise. The study of interacting galaxies is of great benefit to astrophysicists in understanding the evolution of such systems. And so Raven, the constellation is small and not the brightest, often flickers in messages related to outer space. However, for lovers of astronomy, this celestial pattern is attractive in itself.